You Shall Be Holy For I Am Holy (Leviticus 20:26)

“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:26)

Among many errors and distortions in Christianity, I think it is the most serious and harmful one that you do your best for God. Christianity is not to do your best at all. Rather it is to do all in perfection and blamelessness in Christ. In man, nothing valuable is found before God. Jesus says whatever comes out of a man defiles a man. “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:21-23) It is impossible for any man to be holy and blameless before God by doing his best.

So, God provides a way to be perfect, holy, and blameless before Him. Christ Jesus is the way. He lived such a perfect, holy, and blameless life on the earth. He was completely selfless, committing Himself unto the Father. Jesus could have created another universe after demolishing the rotten and fallen one for God gave Him all power above all, but He didn’t. Rather, Jesus obeyed the Father in everything, even to the point of death. He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.” (John 5:19-20)

That’s the secret to live a perfect life which God intended to live. Admit that you have nothing to please God, fix your eyes on Christ Jesus who is all in all and liberally gives whatever you ask, and follow Him. It’s not true that you do your best and the rest will be done by God. That’s another distorted, cheap, and shallow teaching. The Scripture never says that. God demands man to be holy and blameless always in His sight. The good news is that God not only demands but also provides power to be whole and blameless. Jesus Christ is that dynamics in the midst. There is only Person who can obey God in perfection and blamelessness. He is Christ the Son of God. Do not forget that God promised to send the Spirit to His beloved children who received Him by faith. Christ in you is the One who obeys the Father.  

Christ Broke His Body to Enter the Holy of Holies, So Did We (Hebrews 12:3-11)

“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,

Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

For whom the Lord loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:3-11 NKJV)

Okay. Jesus Christ suffered much. However, that’s not the end of the story. He suffered not without any reason. Through the suffering He was perfected in His ministry as the High Priest. By His own death, Christ paid the full price for the redemption of humanity because without death with blood there is no forgiveness. The wages of sin is death, says the scripture. No one can argue the fact that man dies once. Jesus suffered not for Himself but for us the fallen race. The Father in heaven imposed all the transgressions and sins of the race upon the Son of Man Jesus Christ. In that way, Christ became the ransom sacrifice to pay off the price of falling.

That is the only way to have the life, to find the way, and to possess the truth. Jesus says His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24 NKJV)  To be Christ’s disciples, we must follow what He did, obedience to the Father even death on the cross. The grand redemption plan was made even before the creation of the world that the Son of Man must die as the Lamb of God. His suffering and death with bloodshed was pronounced by the hand of Prophet Isaiah and many other prophets.

Christ knew that He was destined to die in shame, guilt, and despair after much sufferings, agony, pain, humiliation, mockery, and slandering. Paul described what our Lord Jesus Christ did in obedience to the Father and what God did when the Son obeyed. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV)

Christ denied Himself and took up the cross, shedding His blood on the alter in heaven and completely quenching the fiery wrath of God against the fallen humanity. Now, what else could God do other than exalting the Son of God above all? God raised Him the third day according to the Scriptures.

Our life is one suffering after another, but not without any reason and purpose. God is love eternally and in Him there is no variation, nor the shadow of turning. God chastens all His children in order to give better and spiritual blessings—perseverance, adequacy, and righteousness. Challenges and hurdles whether tiny, small, or big in our lives are designed for us to demonstrate the presence of Christ Jesus in the midst. We have been made partakers of Christ Jesus, the eternal indwelling place of the Triune God. Through the sufferings and heartaches, we are gradually learning and understanding the secret of life, the Person Christ Jesus. By the hand of the master builder, we are in the process of being molded and shaped to fit and worthy of the high calling.

Do not forget the wonderful promise of God, saying “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)

Our loving and faithful God is behind all things happening in the midst. Do not forget that as is the promise, so also is the warning. “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12-15 NKJV) 

Burn the Light of the Lord from Evening till Morning!

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually." (Leviticus 24:1-4 NKJV)

Put Off the Old and Put On the New (Colossians 3:1-4)

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV)

What’s happened when we first believed in Christ the Son of God? The truth for all believers in Christ is that we died with Him, were buried with Him, and were raised with Him. Through the faith in Christ the Son of God, we were liberated, delivered, and redeemed by the grace of the blood, poured out of the throne of grace. The iron bondage has been broken by the power of God who is stronger than the prince of darkness and we have been made alive in Christ. This is real and true for everyone in Christ from the beginning. We were dead in transgressions and sins but now have been made alive with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms. We have been made blameless and holy in the sight of God through the blood of the cross of Calvary, so we enter into the holy of holies in confidence and boldness. Christ indwells in the churches who confess that Christ is Lord and Savior.

Therefore, we continue to put off the old self and put on the new now and forever. In order to put on the new, you must put of the old first and then put on the new. The old nature is from the earth and the new from the above, heaven. First, reject the old man because we do not belong to Adam any longer and accept the fact that we are the new in Christ.

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:5-11 NKJV)

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:12-17 NKJV)

The Great Mystery: Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (Colossians 1:24-29 NKJV)

Undeniable Reality (Colossians 2:11-15)

“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:11-15 NKJV)

Why is the cross of Christ the solution for the fallen humanity? Why is it so real to our lives now and forevermore? It’s because that’s what exactly happened to everyone who believed in Christ the Son of God? Man in nature is hopeless and inadequate, locked in the bondage of darkness and confusion. Frustration is the destiny of humanity in Adam. The situation was daunting and frightening without a mediator who is Christ. When we were dead in sins and transgressions, Christ died in our place to get rid of the powers and principalities of sin and we died with Him. When Christ was buried and raised from the dead, we were buried with Him and raised from the dead with Him. We were made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all sins and trespasses in the past, present, and in the future.

The cross of Christ is a timeless and eternal event, standing forever in the heavenly realms and pouring out rivers of living water to anyone who comes unto Him and drink. The cross of Christ is the starting point of Christianity and the end of Christianity. The cross of Christ nailed all our trespasses and sins and made us holy and blameless in the sight of God that we may enter into the throne of grace and stand in boldness and confidence in the sight of the Almighty and Holy God. This is the undeniable reality to all believers in Christ, if genuine. Therefore, we continue to draw near beneath the cross of Christ and find life eternal in Him who gives liberally without any partiality.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:19-23 NKJV)

“Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.   - Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane

You Are Not Your Own; You Were Bought At A Price

"Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” - Luke 9:21-27 NIV

Knowing Trials Produce Patience Let It Have Its Perfect Work

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." - James 1:2-8 NKJV

Clear Conscience by the Blood of Christ to Serve the Living God!

"He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:12-14 NIV)

Ought to Be Teachers the Mature by Now, Knowing the Righteousness of God and Distinguishing Good from Evil

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:11-14 NIV)

Enter God’s Rest Wholeheartedly (Hebrews 4:8-11)

“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:8-11 NIV)

Why should we strive to enter the rest? It’s because that’s what we are made for. Rest means the rest of God. In the beginning God rested after making everything in place. Everything means everything, restoration, redemption, salvation, judgment, and even new heaven and new earth. God’s restoration plan is complete before the creation of the world.

Furthermore, Christ Jesus entered into the Holy of holies once for all through His own blood and was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of God until His enemy is made a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1). There is no more work left to redeem His people otherwise He would not have been sitting down in glory.

“He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12 NIV)

It has been true throughout the ages from the beginning that everyone in Christ shall enter the rest, the rest of Eternal God. Entering the rest means to depend on Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. If you refuse to enter that rest, you will perish because it is the act of disobedience. Refusing to enter the rest means repudiating the cross of Christ which is the only way to the Father.  

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 NIV) Why must anyone first deny himself? It’s because there is no value in man. Man is dead in sins and trespasses, says the scripture (Ephesians 2:1). Anyone in Christ has been made alive by the blood of Christ and being raised with Him and seated with Him in glory (Ephesians 2:5-6).

Therefore, there is no space at all for anyone to boast of being redeemed because it is wholly and completely on the mercy and grace of God through the blood of Christ Jesus the Lord (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is a whole new arrangement of living in Christ: “Everything is coming from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and nothing from me.” That’s the infallible foundation we shall make every effort to enter that rest forever and ever.

Jesus Christ demonstrated the perfect resting in God the Father all the time in the ministry on the earth and beyond. “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.” (John 5:19-20 NIV)